Shoe.



A. E. OWERS. SHOE. APPLICATION IILBD JUNE 11, 1911.

Fig.1

WITNESSES- NWaZ-WWZJV Patented Nov. 5, 1912.

ALFRED E. OWERS, F BRooKLYm-imw YORK.

SHOE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

messed Nov. 5, i912.

Application filed June 11, 1911-. Serial No.- 63892'7,

To all whom itmayconccm;

. Be it known that I, ALFRED E. Owens, a

citizen of the United States; and a resident of Brooklyn, New York, have invented new and useful-Improvements in Shoes, of which the following is a-specification. I

My invention relates to shoes arid it has for its object the production ofa shoe having a plurality of uppers, the shoe being so constructed that one or more of the'said uppers may be removed easily and the parts so secured that none of the uppers will be injured and so that there will'be no appreciable evidence of the securing means after the removal of any of the uppers. The

uppers may be removed one by one as they are worn or soiled orwhen it is desired to change the appearanceof. the-shoe.

In the shoe commonly known in the art,

0 when the upper-is worn or soiled the shoe is thrown away. Where the uppers of shoes and slippers are made ofa soft or glossy texture or are made of silk 'or satin or other fabric, they soon become soiled or injured beyond repair and the shoe or slipper becomes worthless merely because of its soiled appearance,,,wl1ile the sole and the linin '5 may be perfectly good in every way. n order'to save this loss I have invented a shoe which has two or more uppers, each'independently secured and each easily removable from the others and presenting in each case a perfect unimpaired upper.

' different constructions and many difl'erent arrangements may be used in connecting the parts together. Such features may be greatly modified by those skilled-1n the art without departing from the spirit of the 40 invention and the shoe or slipper producedwill still contain the invention.

In the drawings I have illustrated one or two constructions embodying the invention to'show that it is practical and operative.

g In Figure 1 is shown a slipper involving in its construction the use of the invention having a part of one of the uppers removed. Figs. 2, 3 and 4 show in a conventional way the manner in which the arts of the slipper are secured together. Fig.5, shows the arrangement of parts after one of the uppers has been removed. Figs. 6 and 7 show amodified construction and Figs; 8. ..and 9 show further m'pdifica'tions of the sliplper.

Referring t Figs. 1 to 5,1 is the so e, 2 is the heel, 3 a d 4 are the uppers. In the sewe The invehtion may be embodied in many .slipper illustrated the upper 4 is made of leather and its parts are assembled in the manner well known in the art. The parts are stitched along the upper edge 5 and .atthe'back 6. The upper 4 is also secured to the sole 1. The upper 3'is also sewed along the back at 7 and then secured to theshoe. The method of securing the upper 3 may be varled according to the results desired or the advantages to be gained and, particularly, according to the material used.- I' have illustrated and shall describe the more 7 eflicient and advantageous methods usable in connection 'with the manufacture of the- 'multiple upper slippers. This however as stated before may be greatly varied and the illustrations and the descriptions thereof may, and will undoubtedly, suggest other methods which involve the use of my inven} .tion.

In the arrangement of the parts shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the French binding 8 is secured to the upper'4 in the manner well known by the stitches 9. The upper-3 is then secured to the upper 4 by means of the stitches 10. The stitches 10 may be lock stitches if desired but if a loop stitch is used the upper 3 may be easily removed by startmg the stitches whereupon the thread may be easily pulled out and the upper will fall from the slipper. The thread 10 is sewed 'throl'gh the French binding. It may, be

along the same line that the stitches 9- are sewed. For convenience and clearness of illustration the stitches!) and 10 and the stitches hereinafter referred to are shown separated lfrom each other by a short distance. They, however, may; e located in the same lines or in close parallel lines to avoid the mutilation of the parts and preserve to the inner uppers the same present-v able appearance that each would have inthe ordinary shoe. After the upper 3 is secured by the thread 10, it is turned; up'and the lining 11 is sewed to the upper .4 by means of 'the lock stitch 12, sewing along the. French binding 8 and just beneath the fold :13' so as to cause the lining to draw tightly over the fold- The upper 3 is then drawn over the French bindingv so as to make a neat,- smooth edge a dis then secured pref- -erably by a loopst' 011 .14 as shown in Fig. ,4. A third upper maybe secured in substantially the same way, that is,-by sewing its folded edge with a loop stitch to the edge of the upper 4 and along the folded edge of i the upper 3, and then after the lining'is sewed on, drawing first the upper 3 over the French binding and sewing 1t with a loop stitch and then drawing/the third upper over in the same way and-sewing it with a loop stitch. The uppers are lasted independently, the upper 4 being secured first and then the upper 3. They are then sewed I together to the sole 1 by the stitches 16.

InFig. '5 is shown the arrangement of parts when the upper 3 is removed. The

slipper may be first worn, the shoe presenting the appearance given by the upper 3,

of newness and when it is soiled the upper 3 may be removed by pulling out stitches 10 and 14 and cutting close tothe stitches 16, Whereupon the upper 4 will give the appearance 0th instyle and freshness of appearance; In Figs. 6 and .7 I have shownan upper having its edge protected by a binding.

The upper 4 is provided with" a French binding as heretofore described. The upper 3 may then besewed to the upper 4 by the loop stitch 19 and'the vAmerican binding 18 may .be placed over the edge of the upper 3 and the French binding and secured by the loopstitches 20. The upper 3 may be removed by merely cutting or pulling out the stitches 19'and20 and cutting it close 'to the stitches 16.

In Fig. 8 is shown a modification wherein ithe edge of the upper *3 is turned over the French binding 'andsecured by the loop stitch .21. If desired the edge 22 may be trimmed just beneath the line of stitches after the upper has been sewed on.

t In Fig. 9 is shown in a conventional way the arrangement of the partsof a slipper which has three uppers. The slipper shown in Fig. 9 is like that shown in Fig. 8 except that a plurality of outer uppers are secured 'to the inner uppen. In the figure, the second outer upper 28 is secured to the uppers 3 and 4 by means of the/stitches 29. The

stitches 29 are located along lines substamtially the same as those in which stitches 12 and 21- arelocated in, although in the fig-1 ure, vfor clearness of illustration, stitches 29 are indicated a little above the other stitches.

In. each case abovedescribed add itional uppers may be secured to the slippersubstantially in -the same manner, that the upper 3 is secured, and in that way a multiple l upper slipper or shoe may be made. f-Th'e methods used may be greatly yaried and difierentmetliods may be combined-1n the I manufacture of a single Ifslipper. Also in each case the uppers may, be' lasted independently.

In the preferrehl' form of construction the. f g

. the first upper 4 is made ofleather and is first lasted so that when .itis sewed the upper 3 and the sole it will receive a lthe strain ordinarily brought to bear in theme of a shoe.

What I claim as new'and desire to' secure by Letters Patent is the following combinations of elements 1. In a slipper. the combination with a sole and an upper having a lining, of an." outer upper secured to said inner upper along the upper edges of the inner u per and the outer upper and to the said sole.

2. In a; slipper, the combination with a sole and an upper of leather havinga lining, said upper having abinding located along the upper edge thereof, of an uppe'fof fabric completely covering said leather -upper and secured to said" sole and" to said leather upper along'said binding.

3;. In ashoe, the combination with a sole, 4 of an upper, said upper having a lining, said upp'er'and lining'having their .ends sewed together to form the back seam of;

the shoe,-and a second upper,'said second.85 upper having its ends; sewed together to form :a second back seam independent of ba k seam, said uppers being secured to saih sole and to each other along their upper edges.

4. In a slipperthe combination of a lining, a sole and an upper secured to the said sole, a binding for covering the upper edge of the said upper, a second upper secured to thesaid sole and a second "binding for and a' pluralityofperfect uppers locatedone Within the other',: a lining located within the inner 'upper. andabinding for covering the upper edge of the inner upper the other of the said: uppers being connected to the- 6. In a slipperthe combination of aJsol'e I inner of the said uppers along the said.

binding and the-said uppers beingconnected tothesaid'sole. '1 In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this'specification, in the presencevof two subscribing witnesses. 4

ALFRED Witnesses-2 ;A. LE'BLANo, i JAMESYF. Hniumo. 

